Groundwater

Last night I spoke at a public meeting at the Boston Public Library
regarding the groundwater problems facing parts of Boston. Basically,
buildings throughout much of the city (the South End is the most
publicized example) are built on wooden piles sunk into the ground.
These piles are submerged into the water table and rot when exposed to air, so falling groundwater levels in Boston are causing major problems as the piles dry out. The Boston Redevelopment Authority (BRA) is developing a groundwater overlay district where new projects in the areas of highest concern would be required to infiltrate rainfall back into the ground where it should be, instead of directing
the runoff offsite into the City drainage system.

My civil engineering firm has donated time to assist the BRA with the development of this program, and tonight I spoke for a few minutes on the BRA's behalf about the engineer's point of view - how we have developed specifics within the guidelines, challenges to calculating infiltration of water into the ground, and what these measures may mean for the average project.

There were about 150 people there, several City councilors, state reps, reps of reps, various board and task force members, etc. All voiced their opinions, and then there were plenty of comments from the audience which varied from constructive criticism and suggestions to outright anger at the City for not being responsive enough. Obviously a sensitive topic when many residents' properties are at stake. Very interesting meeting.

In other news, I continue to work on my dislike of public speaking; this was the most daunting challenge yet but I ended up really enjoying it. It helped that I found out I would be doing the presenting at 2 pm, so I didn't have much time to dwell on it, and it was actually fun to speak extemporaneously with only bare
notes. I surprised myself. I really believe it's all about experience, and I think I'm over the hump. My next goal is to work on being more expressive and persuasive...